Particle-mediated transformation of animal tissue cells

A method of administering a protein or peptide to a vertebrate subject, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) selecting a target vertebrate tissue;
• (b) providing microprojectiles, the microprojectiles carrying polynucleic acid sequences, the sequences comprising, in the 5′ to 3′ direction, a regulatory sequence operable in the selected tissue and a gene positioned downstream of the regulatory sequence and under the transcriptional control thereof, the gene coding for a protein or peptide;
• (c) accelerating the microprojectiles at the selected target tissue, with the microprojectiles contacting the cells of the tissue at a speed sufficient to penetrate the tissue cells and deposit the polynucleic acid sequences therein to provide transformed tissue cells;
• and
• (d) maintaining the transformed tissue in the animal subject, with the transformed tissue cells present in the subject in a number sufficient to produce a physiological response to the protein or peptide coded for by said gene in the subject upon expression of said gene.

A method of administering a protein or peptide to a vertebrate subject by in situ microprojectile bombardment, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) selecting a target vertebrate tissue residing in the subject, the tissue selected from the group consisting of dermis tissue and hypodermis tissue;
• (b) providing microprojectiles, the microprojectiles carrying polynucleic acid sequences, the sequences comprising, in the 5′ to 3′ direction, a regulatory sequence operable in the selected tissue and a gene positioned downstream of the regulatory sequence and under the transcriptional control thereof, the gene coding for a protein or peptide;
• (c) accelerating the microprojectiles at the subject, with the subject positioned so that the microprojectiles contact the selected target tissue, and with the microprojectiles contacting the cells of the target tissue at a speed sufficient to penetrate the tissue cells and deposit the polynucleic acid sequences therein to provide transformed tissue cells;
• and
• (d) maintaining the transformed tissue cells in the subject, with the transformed tissue cells present in the subject in a number sufficient to produce a physiological response to the protein or peptide coded for by said gene in the subject upon expression of said gene.